Top 5 Crypto News of the Week

With the week coming to a close, let's take a look at some of the most interesting crypto news from the last 7 days.

CME Group Plans to Offer Options on Bitcoin Futures in Q1 2020

CME Group says it plans to offer options on its Bitcoin futures contracts by Q1 2020, announcing the move in a press release issued on Friday. CME Group executive Tim McCourt says the decision to offer another type of derivatives product for BTC was driven by client demand:

"Based on increasing client demand and robust growth in our Bitcoin futures markets, we believe the launch of options will provide our clients with additional flexibility to trade and hedge their bitcoin price risk."

Binance.US Finally Launches For US Traders - BNB Confirmed As An Addition

The US arm of Binance is finally here with the launch of Binance.US. Binance.US will now officially accept registrations and deposits from its US-based customers. The platform is slated to launch with 6 cryptocurrencies that include BTC, ETH, XRP, BCH, LTC and USDT (with BNB also confirmed - but we will get to that shortly). The team state that this is the initial wave of coins to be added to the exchange with more coming in the following weeks once the cryptocurrencies pass the Binance.US Digital Asset Assessment Framework.

OKEx Korea Crypto Exchange Delists 5 Privacy Coins

OKEX Korea says it’s removing the coins in order to ensure compliance with the “travel rule” that was introduced in the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) guidance for virtual asset service providers. The rule says that businesses that transact with eachother through cryptocurrency must share information about clients that are initiating transactions.

US-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has published another list of crypto assets they are considering for a listing on the company’s platforms. This list is even more speculative than the other lists of crypto assets published by Coinbase, since all of the assets on the company’s latest list have not even been launched yet.

Germany Will Push Back Against Stablecoins Such as Libra

Germany will be pushing back against any attempts of private companies to create “parallel currencies” according to the country’s blockchain strategy, which was passed by Angela Merkel’s cabinet on Wednesday. The German government also intends to collaborate with other European nations and international allies to prevent stablecoins from becoming an alternative to state-issued currencies.